Self righting walking cane

Abstract: A self righting walking cane device (10) which comprises a lightweight hand grip handle (12), a lightweight shaft device (16) and a bottom weighted base device (26) to facilitate the righting action of the cane device (10). The centre of gravity of the cane device is below the centre of rotation of the righting surface causing the cane to remain vertically stable and if disturbed from its vertical position to return to its vertically stable position.

Description: This invention relates to a walking appliance such as a stick or short staff and more particularly to a self righting walking cane for invalids and others in walking who, for example, may be unable to, or have difficulties in, bending down to pick up a device such as a fallen down cane. In addition, the self righting walking cane of the present invention is suitably free standing and vertically stable. There are numerous devices in the prior art to assist persons with ambulatory problems such as conventional crutches, walking sticks and canes. These devices are generally traditionally fitted with simple rubber end fittings for reducing the extent to which they slip on the ground. Various devices have already been proposed to remedy these drawbacks. These devices include a tube suitable for being used interchangeably with any type of crutch or walking stick and receiving a special foot which is articulated to the tube by a ball-and-socket joint. In addition, the foot includes a plurality of resilient projections for providing better adherence on the ground over an area which is very large compared with the area actually use by one of the above mentioned single end pieces. The ball-and-socket joint allows the foot firstly to rotate freely relative to the tube, thereby ensuring that wear takes place uniformly on the projections, and secondly it allows it to adapt to ground irregularities. However, for some people, these crutches or sticks suffer from a further drawback. Should they be accidentally dropped on the ground, they cannot easily be retrieved by their handicapped users who generally also have difficulty in bending down. US-A-4,947,882 discloses a walking stick which comprises a riser, a foot defining a supporting polygon, a ball-and-socket joint connecting the riser to the foot, and resilient means for keeping the riser in a determined position relative to the foot, such that when the foot stands on substantially horizontal ground and when the resilient means are in the holding position, the riser remains in a substantially vertical position, with the supporting polygon being defined by five end fittings positioned substantially at the vertices of a pentagon. U.S. Patent No. 2,642,074 discloses a walking appliance which comprises an upright member having a hand grip thereon, a transverse member having open ends and fixed to the lower end of said upright member, a substantially V-shaped member having inturned ends received in said open ends so as to be pivotally associated with said transverse member and forming therewith a substantially triangular base adapted to rest on a supporting surface, and means for selectively securing said V-shaped member in extended position to rest on a supporting surface or in collapsed position. The foregoing patents as well as the following U.S. patents are believed to exemplify the present state of the art with respect to such rotating and uprighting devices: US-A-4,995,845, US-A-4,562,850, US-A-3,877,697 and US-A-5,088,513. While such prior art devices provide improvement in the areas intended, there still exists a need for a self righting walking cane device which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art devices while providing utility features which provide new and useful advantages and improvements not heretofore disclosed. Accordingly, a principle desirable object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved self righting walking cane device which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art devices. Another principle desirable object of the present invention is to provide a self righting cane that achieves its self righting capability by virtue of the fact that the centre of gravity of the cane is below the centre of rotation of the cane's restoring surface. According to the present invention there is provided a self righting walking cane device as claimed in the ensuing claim 1. A walking cane device according to the invention is particularly useful for handicapped users who generally cannot, or have difficulty in, bending down to pick up a dropped cane, walking stick and the like. The cane has a centre of gravity which is below the centre of rotation of the righting surface causing the cane to remain vertically stable and, if disturbed from its vertical position, to return to it. Preferably the cane device has a flat bottom section which allows it to stand by itself without the need of support. The invention can be applied to produce other useful items such as crutches and highway emergency markers. Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with particular reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a self righting walking cane device of the present invention; Figure 2 is a perspective view of a cover device for covering a bottom portion of the walking cane device shown in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of the self righting walking cane of Figure 1 including the cover device of Figure 2; Figure 3A is a view taken along the line 3A-3A of Figure 3; Figure 4 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of an alternative embodiment of walking cane device according to the present invention; Figures 5A-C are fragmentary perspective views of a self righting walking cane device according to the present invention illustrating the principle by which the cane rights itself; Figure 6A is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of a base shell device for covering a bottom portion of a walking cane device according to the present invention; Figure 6B is an upper view of the base shell device of Figure 6A with the top cover devices off; Figure 6C is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of the base shell device of Figure 6A attached in place of the frame device of Figure 4 and forming an alternative embodiment of walking cane device according to the present invention; Figure 7 is a perspective view illustrating a user walking with a self righting cane device illustrated in Figure 1; and Figure 8 is a perspective view illustrating a feature of a self righting cane device according to the present invention. Referring to the drawings and more particularly to Figures 1-3A, there is illustrated generally by the reference numeral 10 a self righting walking cane device, hereinafter sometimes referred to as a cane device. The self righting cane device 10 consists of a lightweight handle 12 which is bonded to a top portion 14 of a shaft device 16. The handle 12 can be screw adjustably attached, as best illustrated in Figure 3, but alternatively may be attached to the shaft 16 by other means, such as bonded adhesively to the lightweight tapered or straight shaft 16. The shaft device 16 can be formed as a singular unit or, as indicated in Figures 1 and 3, can be provided with an upper section 16A and a bottom section 16B with a screw adjustable portion 18 just above a base device 20. Attached about the bottom portion of the shaft device 16 is a weighted base member 22 which is below the upper portion of the base device 20. The base device 20 has frame devices 26 which are configured and positioned to right the cane 10 if it moves out of a generally vertical position. In particular, the centre of gravity of the cane 10 is located, as indicated by the dashed circle 27, below the centre of rotation, as indicated by the dot 68, of the frame devices 26. In other words, the centre of rotation is the point about which the cane 10 turns when self-righting itself from a toppled over position. The frame devices 26 are suitably wire or sheet metal frame structures having a horizontal top end section 30 attached to the shaft device 16 and a downwardly and inwardly curved section 32 with the bottom end section 34 attached to the flat bottom section 36 of the weighted base member 22 which itself is attached to a bottom portion 37 of the shaft device 16. The bottom portion 36 of the weighted base member 22 is flat with an anti-slip surface so that the walking cane 10 can stand by itself without the need for support. Referring to Figures 2, 3 and 3A there is illustrated an alternative embodiment whereby a cover device 38 is releasably attachable about the frame devices 26. As illustrated in Figure 2, the cover device 38 has top and partial side opening and lock sections 40 with a circular upper open section 42 to go about the upper portion of the bottom shaft device 16B and a bottom open section 44 to go about the bottom section 36 of bottom shaft device section 16B. An important feature of the cover device 38 is the upper section 46 which forms a straight side section 48 between the frame devices 26 which reduces the possibility of the cane device 10 rolling when initially falling whereby it self rights from the same position of falling. Without the cover device 38 the frame devices 26 provide this same improvement. The cover device 38 is preferably formed of lightweight relatively thin flexible fluid impervious plastics material, such as polyethylene or polyvinyl chloride. Referring now to Figure 4, there is illustrated an alternative embodiment of the self righting cane device 10. In this embodiment the shaft device 17 is a one piece thin walled hollow core 50 reinforced graphite composite or similar material which provides for a lightweight high strength and high stiffness shaft with a bottom weighted base device 52 which is attachable to the bottom shaft device section 17A by a threaded or adhesive bonding portion 54 and contains an anti-slip flat bottom portion 56 similar to the bottom portion 36 of Figure 3. The lower end sections 34 of the righting frame devices 26 are attached to the bottom portion 56 in the same manner as Figure 3. Adhesive bonding is the preferred method of attachment. The upper end portion 64 of the upper frame device section 28 is attached to a circular device 66 attached about the shaft device 17. Figures 5A-C show on a walk area 60 the required locations of the centre of gravity, indicated by the circular dashed lines 27, of the assembly in relation to the centre of rotation dots 68 of the righting surface 20. Since the centre of gravity is always below the centre of rotation there exists an unbalanced moment that causes the cane 10 to roll on the righting surface 20 to erect itself. The righting surface 20, in the vertical position of the cane, extends above the centre of gravity and suitably extends to at least the same level as the centre of rotation 68. At the end of the righting the unbalance moment goes to zero and rolling friction between the righting surface 20 and/or weighted base member 22 and the walk area 60 damp out the motion in a vertical standing position of Figure 5A. Referring now to Figures 6A-6C, there is illustrated an alternative embodiment of a base shell device 65. The shell device 65 has downwardly and inwardly curved sections 67 with the bottom end section 69 covering a flat bottom portion 56 of a bottom weighted base member 52. The top portion of the shell device 65 has two cover devices 70 which have hinges or rotating devices 72 to enable raising and lowering of the cover devices 70. The cover devices 70 are provided with releasable attaching devices, such as screws 74, which are releasably attachable to a circular device 67 which is attached about the shaft device 17. The shell device 66 is preferably formed of lightweight relatively thin reinforced plastics composite material, such as glass filled polycarbonate or rigid polyvinyl chloride, and is used in place of the frame devices of Figure 1. In this embodiment the hand grip device 76 is a lightweight, generally U-shaped handle. Referring now to Figures 7 and 8, there is illustrated one example of the operation of the self righting walking cane 10 of the present invention. As illustrated in Figure 7, if an individual 58 is walking along a walk area 60 with the self righting cane device 10 and drops it backwards, as indicated by the line 62, so that it falls on the walk area 60 as indicated in chain lines in Figure 8, it will automatically self right back up immediately (as indicated by the arrow in Figure 8). Several variations are feasible, including variations which have features equivalent to, but not necessarily literally within the meaning of, features in any of the accompanying claims.

Claims: A self righting walking cane device (10) having a centre of gravity (27) and comprising a weighted base (20) and an elongate shaft device (16) having a lower end attached to said base (20) and a handle (12) at its upper end, characterised in that said base (20) has a righting surface (26) comprising curved wall means extending inwardly and downwardly when said walking cane device is positioned in an upright position and defining a centre of rotation (68) and in that said centre of gravity (27) is positioned below the centre of rotation (68) when the walking cane device is positioned in said upright position with the elongate shaft device (16) substantially vertical. A self righting walking cane device (10) according to claim 1, characterised in that said weighted base (20) includes a flat bottom end section (34) which allows the cane device to stand by itself in said upright position. A self righting walking cane device (10) according to claims 1 or 2, characterised in that said weighted base (20) comprises a curved device (26) comprising a plurality of frame devices (26) each having an upper horizontal top section (30) attached to a lower portion of the shaft device (16) and a downwardly and inwardly curved section (32) constituting said curved wall means. A self righting walking cane device (10) according to claim 3, characterised in that it further includes a cover device (38) releasably attachable about the curved device (26). A self righting walking cane device (10) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that said shaft device and said handle device are both lightweight. A self righting walking cane device (10) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the shaft device (16) is of thin-walled, tubular form. A self righting walking cane device (10) according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that the shaft device (16) is tapered to lower its centre of mass toward the bottom of the shaft device. A self righting walking cane device (10) according to claim 1, characterised in that the cane device further comprises a shell device (65) having downwardly and inwardly curved sections (67) constituting said curved wall means and a bottom end section (69) covering a flat bottom end section (56) of the weighted base and upper cover devices (70) which are releasably attachable to the shaft device.

Inventors: HANNOOSH JAMES G, HANNOOSH MITCHELL M, HANNOOSH, JAMES G., HANNOOSH, MITCHELL M.
Applicants: HANNOOSH JAMES G, HANNOOSH MITCHELL M, HANNOOSH, JAMES G., HANNOOSH, MITCHELL M.
Application year: 1994
Main classification: A45B9
IPC codes: A45B3, A61H3